Pretoria - Political party Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD) has joined the loud calls clamouring for embattled President Cyril Ramaphosa’s immediate resignation following the damning report by the Section 89 Independent Panel that found he may have a case to answer on the Phala Phala farm scandal.
F4SD leader Mbahare Kekana said since the scandal erupted into the public domain, Ramaphosa has managed to survive at Union Buildings due to the support he enjoys from “the undesirable dominance of the so-called Stellenbosch Mafia, the Thuma Mina faction of the ANC, and their network of media houses, including the DA, which has been opposing other opposition parties on the matter”.
“In a normal society, the man should have fell on his sword a long time ago. Now that the report is out, we urge him to do the right thing and resign immediately. It's fine if he wants to lead the corrupt ANC, but we don’t want him anywhere near the Union Buildings,” said Kekana.
“It is clear that accountability standards in the ANC are low to non-existent, but certainly, South Africans should refuse to have this done in their government. We, therefore, urge police and the Public Protector to wake up and stop this cover-up attempt they were engaged in.”
Kekana said F4SD would be counting on “progressive forces” in Parliament to force Ramaphosa out “in the event that the ANC tries to use its majority to protect him”.
Meanwhile, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, a senior member of the ANC NEC (national executive committee), has called on Ramaphosa to step aside immediately following the damning findings by the independent panel which probed the Phala Phala scandal.
Dlamini Zuma made the call while speaking on the JJ Tabane show Power to Truth on eNCA Wednesday evening.
Dlamini Zuma’s call also comes amid mounting pressure for Ramaphosa to resign or face an impeachment process, having been found to have violated several sections of the country’s revered and sacred Constitution over how he handled the Phala Phala matter that dates back to February 2020.
Retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo’s three-member Independent Section 89 Panel found Ramaphosa had violated his oath of office in handling the break-in and theft of a huge amount of money in US dollars at his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.
In a report, which Justice Ngcobo released to Parliament Speaker Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula on Wednesday morning but which was made public in the evening, the panel found that Ramaphosa had committed four serious violations and that there is prima facie evidence against him.
The report states: “In light of all the information placed before the Panel, we conclude that this information discloses, prima facie, that the President may have committed:
– A serious violation of sections 96(2)(a).
– A serious violation of section 34(1) of PRECCA.
– A serious misconduct in that the President violated section 96(2)(b) by acting in a way that is inconsistent with his office.
A serious misconduct in that the president violated Section 96(2)(b) by exposing himself to a situation involving a conflict between his official responsibilities and his private business of the Constitution.
IOL